Tag Archive: CAWP

Two things I want to flag for you, both on the Rutgers campus; Ready to Run campaign training and new training for young adults. Last night, I attended a panel discussion called Running For and Holding Local Office, hosted by…Read more

We have this announcement from CAWP (Center for American Women and Politics) at Rutgers, the leading authority on the status of women in elected office and government service across the country – local, state and national – and the hosts…Read more

Just a quick heads-up on something that might be of interest to some of you, campaign training for women – both Democrats and Republicans training together with women electeds and trainers that span the ideological spectrum. Early bird: Today is the…Read more

When you’ve spent a lifetime fighting to make New Jersey a better place for all its residents, what can you do to secure that legacy and encourage others to follow in your footsteps? Well, if you’re Senate Majority Leader (and progressive godmother) Loretta Weinberg, you can raise a little awareness and a lot of money to make it possible.

And, that’s exactly what she did at an event last night in Bergen County, raising over $100k for the Loretta Weinberg Legacy Fund at the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP). CAWP is a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers, whose self-described mission is “to promote greater knowledge and understanding about women’s participation in politics and government and to enhance women’s influence and leadership in public life.”

And let’s face it, few know more about women’s participation in politics and government or have had greater influence and leadership than Senator Weinberg, whose daughter Francine last night described her (as only a child can, with love) as “a modern day caped crusading change maker – part nag, part superhero.”

We had three women running for Congress from this state, which has not sent a woman to the House since Republican Marge Roukema in left in 2003, and has not elected a Democratic woman in nearly 40 years, that was Helen Stevenson Meyner, elected in 1975 and returned for one term in 1979. Bonnie Watson Coleman will make history. Aimee Belgard ran the only race the national Dems rewarded with resources; she was hard-charging, but she lost. Janice Kovach ran a much weaker, and poorly funded race in a challenging district; she lost.

Women are underrepresented in New Jersey government – take a look at these numbers. How deep is our bench of women ready to make policy at the federal level? How many women who are natural leaders in their own community don’t even realize they’re exactly who should be elected to run those communities?

Maybe you’re who should be running? I want to bring two trainings to your attention that may be able to help you figure that out. Both of them are enrolling now, but they’re very different. Below the fold: Ready to Run & Emerge NJ. You should check them out:

The Center for American Women and Politics, the ground-breaking training ground for women’s rise in elected politics, is announcing its incoming 2014 Winona Lipman Chair in Women’s Political Leadership. She is Rep. Donna Edwards, Democrat of Maryland’s 4th congressional district, which includes much of the Washington, D.C. suburbs. The first African-American woman ever elected to Congress from Maryland.

Edwards (Twitter: @repdonnaedwards) will give a public lecture at Rutgers next April 23rd. She follows a line of former Lipman Chairs, including Donna Brazile (my favorite, because she made herself available for a strategy session on the fly for a campaign I was working on), Valerie Jarrett, congresswomen Shirley Chisholm and Eleanor Holmes Norton, journalist Gwen Ifill and South African anti-apartheid activist Hon. Gertrude Foster (list here). Melody Barnes is the 2013 honoree.

When we talk about the kinds of people we hope to see enter and succeed in elected office, when we bring up names like Marie Corfield who bring an activist’s drive to politics, we could be talking about someone whose had the trajectory into Congress that Donna Edwards has.

The groundbreaking Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University Eagleton Institute of Politics (a mouthful of a name) is tracking the women in President Obama’s cabinet and other high-level positions in his administration.

You can read CAWP’s full list (pictures & bios), but here are the ones I pulled out with New Jersey connections:

Hillary Clinton, who may be the toughest thing standing in Chris Christie’s way in 2016 according to a national poll released today, the highest ranking woman in President Obama’s administration, the outgoing Secretary of State.

Valerie Jarrett, the President’s Senior Advisor and Chair of the White House Council on Women and Girls, who was at Rutgers two years ago to give the Senator Wynona Lipman lecture on women’s political leadership for the RU Ready Young Leaders Conference.

Lisa Jackson, chemical engineer by profession (her Master’s degree from Princeton), and Obama’s former EPA Chief, and former NJ EPA Commissioner and former Chief of Staff to Gov. Jon Corzine – the first woman and the first African-American to hold that post in New Jersey. Jackson’s decision to step down in December briefly fueled chatter she was considering getting into the race for NJ Governor.

Sara Manzano-Diaz, former Director of the Women’s Bureau, Department of Labor – the only part of the Federal government specifically tasked with improving the lives of working women. Law Degree from Rutgers University School of Law.

And hey – CAWP’s bi-partisan campaign training for women – Ready to Run – starts at Rutgers two weeks from tomorrow. Not too late to get trained and find your way onto some future list like this one, above.

I’m a graduate of this training, which is excellent, and so is nearly every smart woman fresh to NJ politics that I’ve ever met. The program – which originates out of four decades of CAWP’s scholarship, research and data about American women’s political participation at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics – is the first of its kind in America.

Not sure you’re ready to run, but thinking it over? There’s a for those mulling or working on alternate ways influence politics. Also, 3 pre-conference programs encourage women of color to run for office:

What I want you to know about this training is that it’s bi-partisan. You’ll find both GOP & Democratic leaders up front at each session, and women of both parties – and perhaps additional parties – seated next to you. When I went, I found the fellowship of other women finding their power exciting. But I admit, I was also very careful about talking too much about the strategy of campaigns I was working on. You might approach it differently. Takeaways include: media and fundraising skills, how-to info for running, practical advice, internet strategies, and better understanding of party politics.

Headliners at Ready to Run include Christie insider Michael DuHaime, former Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin, Christine Jahnke who trains candidates for media appearances, and pollster Celinda Lake. Below the fold, the whole trainers list, which include Blue Jersey’s own Sen. Loretta Weinberg.

Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile will speak in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. next Tuesday, Jan. 12 at the Newark Public Library.

King’s assassination triggered her commitment to political and social activism, she says, and she started local: at age 9, she campaigned for a candidate who promised to build a playground in her neighborhood.

In 2005, Donna Brazile held the Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women’s Political Leadership at CAWP, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, where she participated in CAWP’s groundbreaking Ready to Run program. This year’s Ready to Run, by the way, is March 20, with a run-up program the day before focused on women of color interested in campaigning for any level of office.

Brazile of course was also Al Gore’s campaign manager, and incidentally the first-ever African-American woman to manage a presidential campaign. She is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, a syndicated political columnist and a regular on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

The event begins at 5:30pm Tuesday, January 12 in Centennial Hall at the Main Library, 5 Washington St. in Newark. Doors open at 5 p.m.